The ball landed in one of the cups in the second row.
“WOO!” I cheered when I saw the ball sink. I was joined by several of the spectators.
“Hell fucking yeah!” Hunter said, holding up his hand for a high-five. “Erica is my secret weapon.”
I high-fived him, and our fingers interlaced together. We grinned at each other for a long moment before letting go.
We got into a groove against Derek and his partner. I drank the next cup of beer, and it didn’t taste as bad as the first sip had. The cups were only a quarter-full, so it wasn’t too hard to guzzle down the cold, brown liquid. Hunter drank the next two cups, allowing me to only take every third cup so I could go easy on the beer.
After one of my shots, Derek Offerman nodded approvingly at me from the other side of the table. “Nice shot, Erica.”
“Thanks,” I grinned.The captain of the football team knows my name. I had never been within ten feet of him before, let alonetalkto him.
After two cups—which was really only half a beer, since they were a quarter-full—I had enough courage to ask Hunter, “Is Jessica here?”
“Nah. I didn’t invite her.” He glanced at me and said, “I stopped seeing her a month ago.”
“Oh.”
We only had three cups remaining to shoot at, and Hunter’s toss missed them entirely. “Yeah, I just wasn’t feeling it.”
I tossed my ball, sinking the back-right cup. I grinned at making the shot, and because of Hunter’s comment about Jessica. “That’s too bad.”
“It’s not a big deal. We weren’t serious or anything.”
Derek tossed his ball, sinking it into a cup in front of me. I drank the cold beer for liquid courage. “Why do you bounce around so much?”
Hunter cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
“First you dated Katie, then Priscilla, then Jessica. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re kind of a player.”
Hunter chuckled at that. “I guess I’ve never found the right person.”
I nodded along while retrieving my ball. “It can take a while to find the one.”
“Shit, I don’t know if I even believe in the idea ofthe one,” Hunter replied. “Maybe I’ll keep dating different women each month for the rest of my life, then die a single man.”
“Hell yeah, dude!” one of his friends said, high-fiving him. “That’s the life!”
I made myself laugh, but I was aching on the inside. There was no point in having a crush on a guy who didn’t think there was a special someone out there, waiting for him.
I could be your special someone, Hunter Cade.
I quickly shook off the thought. The one beer I’d had was quickly going to my head.
“What about you?” Hunter asked. “I’ve never seen you with anyone.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said awkwardly. “I’ve been texting with this boy in my Biology class. His name’s Lance.”
Hunter looked sideways at me. “Just texting? What’s keeping you from going out with this Lance guy?”
“He’s nice, but I don’t think I like him that way.”
“Nothing wrong with being picky,” Hunter replied. “Especially someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
“Sure,” he said with a grin. “You could probably have any guy you want.”